Facebook unveiled a new version of its website on Thursday that's based around the idea of a personal "timeline" rather than its standard profile pages.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the social network's annual conference in San Francisco.
"Timeline is a completely new aesthetic for Facebook."
The pages look more like blogs than a social-networking site. A large photo covers the top of the pages, stretching from one side of the screen to the other. And posts -- like photos, status updates and the locations a person visits -- show up below that, attached to a vertical and chronological timeline.
He said.
"We think it's an important next step to help you tell the story of your life."
This new Timeline look will replace users' current profile pages -- but not their news feeds -- within several weeks. The world's largest social network, with more than 750 million users, just launched a new version of its homepages earlier this week.
Zuckerberg also said that Facebook's reach continues to grow.
He said.
"For the first time ever, in a single day we had half a billion people use Facebook."
The company also unveiled a new version of its app network, which also is launching over coming weeks.
Facebook users now can see what their friends are doing "in real time," even if those friends don't click a button to publish their activities to Facebook. By approving certain music apps, a Facebook user would allow the site to post every song he or she listened to on music-streaming service Spotify, for example.
Zuckerberg called this "real-time serendipity."
Facebook CTO Bret Taylor said.
"This is the most significant change we've made to our platform since we launched it four years ago."
To promote this real-time sharing, Facebook announced partnerships with Yahoo News, Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, foodie social network Foodspotting and others. These companies have created Facebook apps that can post all of a person's activities on Facebook's new "ticker," which appears in the top right-hand corner of the site's homepage.
Zuckerberg called this a "frictionless experience," since users don't have to click a button to publish each of their activities. If they watch a TV show on Netflix, and they've approved Netflix's app, that information would just automatically appear on Facebook.
The changes will no doubt raise some privacy concerns, and some Internet users who were watching the presentation reacted negatively.
One Twitter user wrote.
"Get ready for over-sharing."
A Facebook user wrote on the company's live stream page.
"This is just WAY too much sharing. The end of privacy."
COMMENTARY: Looks like the CIA is moving swiftly to tighten its grip on Facebook and Zuck. Now you can share what you don't want to share--with the CIA, DOD, DARPA and FBI. I have been warning everybody about Facebook for years now.
My last salvo about the connection between Facebook and the CIA was in a blog post dated September 8, 2011, when I pointed out that Washington insider Erstine Bowles, a former Clinton Chief of Staff, who later took over the COS spot after Leon Paneta became CIA Director, was appointed as a Facebook director. Erskine was put there by the CIA, DOD, DARPA and FBI to keep tabs on YOU.
You're probably thinking, "No, that can't be. Zuck was in a movie, he is my hero, he wouldn't do that". But, you will learn the hard way. Some of you punkasses will probably think the new Facebook Timeline profile layout is a work out art, think it's really cool. It's all designed to get you to post more images, Wall posts, videos, etc. All of that content feeds directly to Langely, VA or Quantico, VA where CIA and FBI HQ's respectively are located. Go ahead. Be my guest. Feed the beast.
Checkout some of the Facebook Timeline profile screenshots:
Courtesy of an article dated September 22, 2011 appearing in CNN and an article dated September 22, 2011 appearing in TechCrunch
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